The Saturn Bar in New Orleans' Upper Ninth Ward is regularly talked about as one of America's great dive bars. A quick Google search will tell you that. Recently, it has been through some hard times. The long-time owner, O'Neil Broyard, died in December. He had sat in front of his bar with a shotgun in his lap after Katrina, according to the Times-Picayune, and only evacuated to Illinois with his two dogs when state troopers forced him out.

Today, his nephew is trying to revive the bar. Eric, his wife and their kids have been cleaning like crazy to get ready for this Saturday. The family will have a celebration there from 11 am in honor of O'Neil.

The Saturn's next big event is hosting us and the launch of Do You Know on Feb. 16 from 6 to 9 pm. We are very excited to be able to launch our book in this fabled New Orleans watering hole. And once Eric sees how much beer the Rutledge brothers can down, he'll be very excited too.

The Press Street Organization is largely responsible for making this happen. As far as I can tell, this is a group of people in New Orleans who are passionate about rebuilding their city and its culture. I talked with one of the members, Anne Gisleson, today and she said they haven't had time to worry about building a website and that sort of thing. They are just too busy fixing their city. We're very lucky to be connected to them, and of course, to Rebuilding Together.

So folks, come to The Saturn (3067 St.Claude Avenue) on Feb. 16. We hope to see you there.

Cross-posted on Voices of New Orleans